Motivation and Emotion,Vol.27,No.2,June2003(C 2003)
Attachment Theory and Affect Regulation:
The Dynamics,Development,and Cognitive Conquences of Attachment-Related Strategies1
山茶花的诗句Mario Mikulincer,2,4Phillip R.Shaver,3and Dana Pereg2
Attachment theory(J.Bowlby,1982/1969,1973)is one of the most uful and gen-erative frameworks for understanding both normative and individual-differences aspects of the process of affect regulation.In this article we focus mainly on the different attachment-related strategies of affect regulation that result from differ-ent patterns of interactions with significant others.Specifically,we pursue3main goals:First,we elaborate the dynamics and functioning of the affect-regulation strategies using a recent integrative model of attachment-system activation and dynamics(P.R.Shaver&M.Mikulincer,2002).Second,we review recentfindings concerning the cognitive conquences of attachment-related strategies following the arousal of positive and negative affect.Third,we propo some integrative ideas concerning the formation and development of the different attachment-related strategies.
KEY WORDS:attachment;affect regulation;personality development.
In the last two decades,attachment theory(Bowlby,1982/1969,1973)has be-come one of the most important conceptual frameworks for understanding the process of affect regulation.Bowlby(1982/1969,1973)highlighted the anxiety-buffering and physical protection functions of clo relationships,conceptualized proximity eking as an alternative to instinctivefight–flight respons,and em-phasized the importance of interpersonal experiences as a source of individual differences in affect regulation over the life span.Specifically,Bowlby(1973) 1Preparation of this article was facilitated by a grant from the Fetzer Institute.
2Department of Psychology,Bar-Ilan University,Ramat Gan,Israel.
3Department of Psychology,University of California,Davis,California.
4Address all correspondence to Mario Mikulincer,PhD,Department of Psychology,Bar-Ilan University,Ramat Gan52900,Israel;e-mail:mikulm@mail.biu.ac.il.
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0146-7239/03/0600-0077/0C 2003Plenum Publishing Corporation
施魔法
78Mikulincer,Shaver,and Pereg delineated different attachment-related strategies of affect regulation
which re-sult from different patterns of interactions with significant others.In this article we focus on the attachment-related strategies and elaborate on a recent model (Shaver&Mikulincer,2002)that explains the dynamics and functioning of the strategies.We also prent recentfindings concerning the cognitive conquences of the strategies and propo some integrative ideas concerning their formation and development.
ATTACHMENT THEORY AND AFFECT REGULATION:
BASIC CONCEPTS政治方面
In his classic trilogy,Attachment and Loss,Bowlby(1982/1969,1973,1980) developed an ethological theory concerning the regulatory functions and con-quences of maintaining proximity to significant others.He argued that infants are born with a repertoire of behaviors(attachment behaviors)aimed at eking and maintaining proximity to supportive others(attachmentfigures).In his view,prox-imity eking is an inborn affect-regulation device(primary attachment strategy) designed to protect an individual from physical and psychological threats and to alleviate distress.Bowlby(1988)claimed that the successful accomplishment of the affect-regulation functions results in a n of attachment curity—a n that the world is a safe place,that one can rely on protective others,and that one can therefore confidently explore the environment and engage effectively with other people.
According to Bowlby(1982/1969),proximity-eking behaviors are parts of an adaptive behavioral system(attachment behavioral system).This system emerged over the cour of evolution becau it incread the likelihood of survival of human infants,who are born with immature capacities for locomotion,feeding, and defen.Becau infants require a long period of care and protection,they are born with a repertoire of behaviors that maintain proximity to others who are able to help regulate distress.Although the attachment system is most critical during the early years of life,Bowlby(1988)assumed that it is active over the entire life span and is manifested in thoughts and behaviors related to support eking.
Bowlby(1982/1969)also delineated the provisions a relationship partner should supply,or the functions this person should rve,if he or she is to become an attachmentfigure(e also Hazan&Shaver,1994;Hazan&Zeifman,1994). First,attachmentfigures are targets of proximity maintenance.Humans of all ages tend to ek and enjoy proximity to their attachmentfigures in times of need and to experience distress upon paration from thefigures.Second,attachmentfigures provide a physical and emotional safe haven;they facilitate distress alleviation and are a source of support and comfort.Third,attachmentfigures provide a cure ba from which people can explore and learn about the world and develop their
Attachment and Affect Regulation79 own capacities and personality.By accomplishing the functions,a relationship partner becomes a source of attachment curity.
默契的意思Beyond describing universal aspects of the attachment system,Bowlby(1973) delineated individual differences in the functioning of the system.Interactions with significant others who are available in times of need,nsitive to one’s attachment needs,and responsive to one’s bids for proximity(attachment-figure availabil-ity)facilitate the optimal functioning of the system and promote the formation of a n of attachment curity.As a result,positive expectations about others’availability and positive views of the lf as competent and valued are formed, and major affect-regulation strategies are organized around the positive beliefs. However,when significant others are unavailable or unresponsive to one’s needs, proximity eking fails to relieve distress,and a n of attachment curity is not attained.As a result,negative reprentations of lf and others are formed (e.g.,worries about others’good will and doubts about lf-worth),and strategies of affect regulation other than proximity eking are developed(condary attach-ment strategies).In other words,attachment-figure availability is one of the major sources of variation in strategies of affect regulation.
Most empirical tests of the theoretical ideas have focud on a person’s attachment style—the sys
tematic pattern of relational expectations,emotions,and behavior that results from internalization of a particular history of attachment ex-periences and conquent reliance on a particular attachment-related strategy of affect regulation(Fraley&Shaver,2000;Shaver&Mikulincer,2002).Initially,re-arch was bad on Ainsworth,Blehar,Waters,and Wall’s typology of attachment styles(Ainsworth,Blehar,Waters,&Wall,1978)in infancy—cure,anxious,and avoidant—and Hazan and Shaver’s conceptualization of parallel adult styles in the romantic relationship(adult pair-bonding)domain(Hazan&Shaver,1987).How-ever,subquent ,Bartholomew&Horowitz,1991;Brennan,Clark, &Shaver,1998)revealed that attachment styles are best conceptualized as re-gions in a two-dimensional space.The dimensions defining this space,attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance,can be measured with reliable and valid lf-report scales(Brennan et al.,1998)and are,in line with Bowlby’s theory(Bowlby, 1982/1969),associated with relationship functioning and affect regulation(e Mikulincer&Shaver,2003;Shaver&Clark,1994;Shaver&Hazan,1993,for reviews).
In this two-dimensional space,what was formerly called the“cure style”is a region where both anxiety and avoidance are low.This region is defined by a n of attachment curity,comfort with cloness and interdependence,and reliance on support eking and other constructive means of co
甘庶
羊跟狗属相合不合ping with stress. What was called the“anxious style”refers to a region in which anxiety is high and avoidance is low.This region is defined by a lack of attachment curity,a strong need for cloness,worries about relationships,and fear of being rejected. What was called the“avoidant style”refers to a region in which avoidance is high.
80Mikulincer,Shaver,and Pereg This region is defined by a lack of attachment curity,compulsive lf-reliance, and preference for emotional distance from others.Both the anxious and avoidant styles are characterized by the failure of proximity eking to relieve distress and the conquent adoption of condary attachment strategies.In Ainsworth et al.’s original diagram of the two-dimensional space(Ainsworth et al.,1978),avoidant infants occupied mainly the region where avoidance was high and anxiety was low. In adult attachment rearch,Bartholomew and Horowitz(1991)drew a distinction between“dismissing avoidants”(who are high on avoidance and low on anxiety) and“fearful avoidants”(who are high on both avoidance and anxiety).
In summary,Bowlby(1982/1969,1973)viewed proximity eking as a pri-mary inborn strategy for regulating affect.Moreover,he propod that the interac-tion of the attachment system with a particular history of attachment experiences results in the development of other strategies of affect regulation.In the next c-tion,we delineate the dynamics and functioning of the major attachment-rel
ated affect-regulation strategies.
THE DYNAMICS OF ATTACHMENT-RELATED STRATEGIES
In attempting to characterize the affect-regulation strategies associated with the functioning of the attachment system,we rely on Shaver and Mikulincer’s model of the activation and dynamics of the attachment system(Shaver& Mikulincer,2002).This model integrates recentfindings with the earlier theo-retical proposals of Bowlby(1982/1969,1973),Ainsworth(1991),and Cassidy and Kobak(1988),and Fraley and Shaver(2000).
The model(Fig.1)includes three major components.Thefirst involves mon-itoring and appraisal of threatening events;it is responsible for activation of the primary attachment strategy—proximity eking.The cond component involves monitoring and appraisal of the availability of external or internalized attachment figures;it is responsible for individual differences in the n of attachment -curity and the development of what we call curity-bad strategies.The third component involves monitoring and appraisal of the viability of proximity eking as a means of coping with attachment incurity and distress.This component is responsible for individual differences in the development of specific condary attachment strategies(hyperactivating versus deactivating strateg
ies).The new model includes excitatory and inhibitory pathways that result from recurrent u of condary attachment strategies;the pathways in turn affect the monitoring of threatening events and attachmentfigures’availability.
Attachment-System Activation and the Primary Attachment Strategy
Shaver and Mikulincer(2002)assume that the monitoring of unfolding events results in activation of the attachment system when a potential or actual threat is
Attachment and Affect Regulation81
Fig.1.An adaptation of Shaver and Mikulincer’s integrative model of the activation and dynamics of the attachment system(Shaver&Mikulincer,2002).
锻炼的意思perceived.This idea follows Bowlby’s statement that“A child eks his attachment-figure when he is tired,hungry,ill,or alarmed and also when he is uncertain of that figure’s whereabouts”(Bowlby,1982/1969,p.307).That is,during encounters with physical or psychological threats,the attachment system is activated and the合理的近义词
